To hate working from home?

[Ruby0707]

Everyone I speak to loves it and never wants to return to the office.

I'm the opposite, we've gone permanently from home and I am so sick of endless days without interacting with anyone during the day. I have nothing to talk about when my partner gets home.

Am I the only one?

According to this the average commuting cost pre pandemic was £66 a month, which won't get you many days in a co-working space (which was the original cost being discussed):
www.yourmoney.com/household-bills/british-workers-spend-492-days-of-their-lives-travelling-to-work/

[quote MaMelon]Only if you used to have high commuting costs - not everyone does

It doesn't have to be a high commuting cost to break even or make you better off though. Most people in this country (around 85%) have commuting costs according to this - that's a heck of a lot of people who could potentially be financially better off www.statista.com/statistics/300710/preferred-transport-for-travelling-to-work-in-the-united-kingdom/[/quote]
Not to mention the environmental benefits of millions fewer car journeys every day. The media tend to depict a world in which everyone commutes by train or tube, but for the 80% of the U.K. population who don’t live or work in London, that’s not true, of course. In the ‘real world’ outside the London bubble millions of people drive to work.

I love it, wish we could WFH forever. Sadly we are going back part time (or full time if people want), but no perm WFH only.
But it does totally depend on your home life and circumstances. We have the space and I hate the commute time and early starts. Today I had a cracking headache so got up closer to starting work and didn’t shower until lunchtime. Can’t do that in the office.

According to this the average commuting cost pre pandemic was £66 a month

I had a quick look and that was only one figure quoted - others were higher, and some a lot higher. Remember also that the vast majority of car owners who commute will also be paying car loans, service costs, and so on, which won't be included in those commuting costs.

If wfh continues then more people may be tempted to give up their cars altogether, and certainly as GirlAloud rightly says, the positive environmental benefits of millions fewer car journeys each day are huge.

[quote BusyLizzie61]@FSPea
Not locally I don't think. A couple of pubs do a deal where you can use their wifi for the day but it's not the same. It's also a cost I'll have to pay for.

Is that not just the same as commuting costs though?[/quote]
My commute cost was quite low, roughly £3 a day.

A quick look at working spaces, the cheapest I could find start at £25 a day (plus the cost to get there).

@LadyCatStark

YANBU at all it’s making me mentally unwell…

I hear you and feel the same!

Do you have a return to the office on the horizon at any point?

I don't really get the 'co-working hub', much less the working in a busy, noisy pub thing.

What's the point in paying to sit around strangers who are working with different companies? OK, I guess you get access to printers and other facilities you may not have at home, but other than that I don't see the point. There's also the confidentiality issue. I know it doesn't apply to all jobs, but I wouldn't want to do business with someone sitting in a pub or cafe with phone conversations and documents potentially visable to all and sundry. In my job we got lectured for not logging off when going to the bathroom for 5 minutes, but working in a public place is fine?

You’re certainly not alone. It’s shite, tolerable in small doses or if the house is empty. It’s just not a working environment.

Co-working spaces are different though - they're serviced, may have some kind of remote reception, come with utilities and so on. The local pub might be a bit cheaper.

It's like anything though - costs will vary significantly from person to person, which is why I think forward looking employers will work more closely with employees (whose roles allow for it) to allow for the best working model for both parties, rather than going back to the bad old days of the physical office.

@MaMelon

According to this the average commuting cost pre pandemic was £66 a month

I had a quick look and that was only one figure quoted - others were higher, and some a lot higher. Remember also that the vast majority of car owners who commute will also be paying car loans, service costs, and so on, which won't be included in those commuting costs.

If wfh continues then more people may be tempted to give up their cars altogether, and certainly as GirlAloud rightly says, the positive environmental benefits of millions fewer car journeys each day are huge.

That's the national average (apparently you had a very quick look, in that you didn't read it!), it is indeed higher in some regions and lower in others. The highest regional average is £78.93.I

I agree that most people save money or break even if they just stay at home (I don't, but I agree that's unusual) but I was responding to a post saying that people should just pay for a coworking space or to work in a pub if they don't like working at home because it's the same as a commuting cost; much fewer people could do that and still break even.

If WFH continues on this scale indefinitely the rail and bus networks will collapse - commuting is what makes them viable, trains are only still running now because they've been heavily subsided by the government - so no, I don't think people will be giving up their cars.

It does depend on what you do. I've WFH since April 2020 in two different jobs. The first one was a nightmare because I was taking lots of phone calls that just wasn't practical at home with DH and DC there. Even with a dedicated space. Now I do a different job that doesn't involve many phone calls, it's much better.

I do force myself to get out of the house everyday though. I do the school runs even on days DH is home to do it. Stop and chat to people. Make plans to go out most of the weekends. I go to the gym religiously three nights a week.

That's the national average (apparently you had a very quick look, in that you didn't read it!

That's the national average according to one source. Other sources come up with different national averages (in case you didn't read them! )

WFH won't continue on this scale and I don't think anyone expects it to. What I think most people are saying is that the old way of working - which for many of us means piling into overcrowded and expensive public transport, millions of daily car journeys at a time when we're trying to limit our carbon footprint, working in noisy offices and so on - just isn't wanted 5 days a week. Productivity has not dropped (beyond illness during a pandemic obvs), we have the tech and infrastructure in place to support it, it's shown to have worked for many roles - let's be more flexible in our approach to work and let's not go backwards.

You are definitely not alone. I’m squashed in a corner of my lounge diner which makes my previously spacious living area ridiculously cramped. I’m busy but completely unmotivated to actually do anything. Live on my own so sometimes the only time I see other people is when I walk the dog.

DS is here on his days off as well and trying to work while he practices the same song on his guitar repeatedly is a nightmare.

My company have closed our office permanently but are now looking into setting up a small hub as so many of us are struggling with WFH all the time.

YANBU

I hate it.

I work in a university that isn't even pretending that we will ever come back. I am on my way out - I have three days of work lined up in a related sector outside the house.

My DH does the same job and loves WFH.

Working from home on a permanent basis requires a particular mind set.

I had never worked at home until I became an academic and then it was routine. Deep research and writing (which are essential parts of the job) cannot be done in a busy office with phones ringing, punctuated by meetings with students and colleagues. So I got used to the hybrid home/office culture that many people are now experiencing for the first time. It was routine to WAH for 2/3 days a week, only going in for meetings and to use the library, etc.

What I appreciated was the ability to pace my own work and do it at the time which suited me. So long as tasks were completed for deadline there was no question of having to sit at the computer 9-5 or always being available at the end of a phone. There were mobiles back then (1990s) but no smart phones. So no texting and having to answer immediately. I might go for a walk, see that my boss had emailed or phoned, and get back to her on my return.

I now run my own business from home, and have a strict "non interruption" policy. I dont answer the door unless its an arranged appointment or I can see on my security camera that its a courier attempting to deliver a parcel. In fact I enjoy the idea of being able to plan a series of tasks and work through them with no unexpected visitors.

I would hate to have to ever work in an office again as what I do does not require input from colleagues.

It depends on your personal circumstances. I love working from home but I have a detached office away from the kids. Saves enormous amounts time and money. I now spend one week a month in the office and the rest at home.

I always feel like the only parent of little children who doesn't like WFH - it is a bit more convenient, but since having children I've really valued work as a space where I feel like an independent adult and not just mum.

This! I did 2 months WFH at the start of the year and was desperate to get back in the office. I do 3 days a week and sitting in my joggers/slippers at the dining table next to DS's toys was so depressing.

I imagine most people who like wfh have adequate space for it. I think if you end up having to set up a desk in the bedroom it's going to be really bad for sleep hygiene. I know I would not be able to sleep if my work computer was there in the room, silently and malevolently collecting mountains of emails to deal with the next day.

I'm happy that for my job I can't wfh, personally I would never take a fully wfh job, I know it would drive me insane. It will be interesting to see what different workplaces do over the next few years.

YANBU. I hated it and volunteered to go back in as soon as it was possible last year. Have worked outside the home fully ever since either on contract/locum employer premises or own hired rooms, even to do online work. For me it’s been worth the cost but I do understand not everyone can afford it.

Yup, I hate it too. Less so now I'm in a new roll but I still don't like it. I miss the commute to get back into home mode. I went back from mat leave into WFH and I struggle to go from work straight into mum mode with a toddler.

WFH makes me feel like a battery hen.

@Ruby0707 nope! We finish for summer on Tuesday (I work in education but for the local authority) and have absolutely no clue what I’ll come back to in September 😡. It occurred to me the other day that in a full academic year (and a bit) not one manager out of a 2 page list of managers has been jn touch to make sure we’re ok, or that we’re managing, or even actually still working 😂